Contact me to get your Vitamin D levels checked now!
I’ve been “banging on” for years about the importance of Vitamin D, and always ask every client if they’ve had their Vit D levels checked. Vitamin D is SO important for the health of nerves, hormones, joints/bones, muscles, mood, energy, skin, cholesterol levels, insulin sensitivity, protection against all cancers – and of interest right now – IMMUNITY.
Of all the Vitamin D tests I have run, only one person had what I would consider to be adequate levels (see below). Knowing your Vitamin D level is important, because if you are very low, a standard dose will not be enough to bring your levels up. You may need, temporarily at least, a very high dose.
Since Covid 19 struck, we in the Nutrition and Health world have been advocating Vitamin D as one of the most important nutrients for helping protect against, and improving outcomes in Covid.
The attached article is a very comprehensive review of the many studies on Vitamin D and is well worth reading in full.
The article is long, however, and somewhat technical, so I have highlighted the key points here from this and other studies:
- We absorb most Vitamin D via UVB rays from the sun hitting our skin
- Because of low sunshine levels for much of the year, most of us in the UK are low in Vitamin D
- In fact, in the UK our rates of Vitamin D deficiency are higher than anywhere else in Europe with average blood levels of only 19ng/ml. The suggested level to support good health and resistance to infection is 40-60ng/ml (although I would suggest 75 -100 if dealing with specific health issues)
- Our death rates from Covid 19 are higher in the UK than anywhere else in Europe
- Members of the Black and Ethnic Minority groups living in the UK and the rest of Northern Europe tend to have particularly low levels because darker skins cannot make enough vitamin D at latitudes above the 37thparallel even in the summer
- In any event, most of us, these days, spend most of our time indoors, and when we do go out in the sun, we apply heavy sun-screens which block Vit D
- We also have higher rates of obesity in the UK than the rest of Europe. Researchers at Queen Mary University, London say “In the UK, individuals who were overweight or obese made up 78% of the confirmed Covid-19 infections and 62% of the Covid-19 deaths in hospitals. After adjusting for potential confounding factors including age, sex, ethnicity, and social deprivation, the risk of critical illness from Covid-19 increased by 44% for those who were overweight, and almost doubled for those with obesity. Similarly, the risk of dying from Covid-19 increased with the severity of obesity, with more than twice the risk in the most obese category”[1]
- Food sources of Vit D are few: oily fish, butter, eggs, mushrooms. Even if you are eating plenty of these foods, you can only get a maximum of 10% of your requirement from food.
- Other categories of people who have increased risk from Covid-19 – the elderly, the obese, diabetics, those with cardiovascular disease, respiratory issues, are also likely to have a high level of Vitamin D deficiency. Eshani King says “Although there may also be other factors involved in the above conditions, such as various nutrient deficiencies and the metabolism of excessive quantities of glucose, vitamin D deficiency is a major contributory factor in the genesis of these conditions. Although high serum vitamin D levels could have prevented their onset, subsequent supplementation may or may not be effective in alleviating a condition once it has become established, depending on the nature of the particular conditions”[2]
The UK Government has finally agreed to conduct a Public Health review into the potential of Vitamin D and prevention of Covid-19. Dr. Adrian Martineau, Professor of Respiratory Infection & Immunity at Queen Mary University, London, says “Vitamin D could almost be thought of as a designer drug for helping the body to handle viral respiratory infections. It boosts the ability of cells to kill and resist viruses and simultaneously dampens down harmful inflammation, which is one of the big problems with Covid-19.”[3]
Contact me now to get your Vitamin D levels checked for as little as £59 (Price correct at time of publish), so that you can take the appropriate dosage for you.
[1] https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2020/smd/food-industry-must-share-blame-for-severity-of-covid-19-.html
[2] https://blog.cytoplan.co.uk/the-role-of-vitamin-d-against-covid-19-the-latest-research/?unapproved=53932&moderation-hash=e48457a407f3af909e538fc3437e92a7#comment-53932.
[3][1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/uk-ministers-order-urgent-vitamin-d-coronavirus-review
